Life on hit Vs. Life regeneration

As soon as this whole Diablo ‘craze’ dies down, we’ll all be back onto that World of Warcrack as we should be.

But for now, let’s talk about a pair of stats that are kind of similar, but serve two entirely different functions.

In the debate between getting some life on hit and life per second, it really ends up coming down to playstyle and preference.

The recent craze has been all about the life on hit. Many people have been very successful by stacking it as high as they can get it and then throwing on as many attack speed items that they can to make it work for them. This is what led to the sudden spike in prices for weapons with a decent chunk of life on hit.

If your attack speed is high enough, getting even 1000 life on hit can equal 2000-2500 life per second so long as you have something to keep hitting and in a situation where you find yourself in the middle of a group of mobs, that life WILL save your life.

On the other hand, life regeneration per second is much more passive and is sort of the unsung hero at the moment. The biggest difference between life on hit and life per second is that the life regeneration works ALL the time. Unlike life on hit, it won’t stop when you’re feared; it won’t stop when you’re forced to kite around; and more importantly, it won’t stop when your champion pack comes with shielding or invulnerable affixes.

Let’s face it, as tanky as you can gear up, it’s nearly impossible to just sit there in the middle of every kind of mob and champion pack without moving, letting off a stream of uninterrupted attacks. You WILL be forced to kite and you WILL run into situations when you need to run for a time to get your cooldowns back up or to chase down a pesky mob that’s after your squishy friends.

Stacking life on hit is a very strong tactic when your defensive gear is good enough that you can afford to have chunks of time where that regen isn’t working for you. If your life and resistances are high enough that you can take a number of hits in a row without any healing when your abilities are on cooldown, life on hit and attack speed might be the better option. If you choose to go that route though, you need to keep in mind that the upcoming patch 1.03 will bring with it a nerf to the stacking of increased attack speed so that life on hit might not work as well once that happens.

Stacking life on hit works pretty well at the lower gear points because you do naturally spend more time running around and away from environmental damage and waiting for cooldowns. That stat’s always running and always working for you no matter what you’re up to.

Keep that in mind when you make your gear choices and remember that like many tanking related things, it usually comes down to personal playstyle and preference.